daily life of a japanese mom

A typhoon is passing by my city.

The wind is blowing from the north to the south now. So, sea water moves from shore to offshore pushing by strong wind. We’re safe when having this type of typhoon, but when you have the opposite one, I mean the one blows from the offshore to the shore, I feel a bit insecure, and the windows of my place become obscured and sticky by salt.

台風通過中。。おんぼろ実家の屋根が飛びませんように。。

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Hi Naoko
My name is Petru and I’m from Romania. For the last week I’ve been reading your entire blog.
Thank you for letting us meet you and your family, thank you for sharing us all those thoughts, emotions, opinions and beautiful pictures of your home and Japan. Your blog is lovely, your progress with English is amazing and you yourself are a wonderful lady.
I really enjoyed these days of learning how the Japanese people live and think; the Internet is indeed a very good tool in eliminating the distance between cultures and people. Especially when it helps you find out that people are the same everywhere no matter what their skin or culture may look like.
I’m deeply sorry for the hard times the Japanese are going through. For me too it is amazing your capacity to stay calm and face the situation. Know that you are not alone, we are here and we pray for all of you to recover and smile again.
At this time I ran out of ideas … I wanted to tell you much more but my mind doesn’t feel like concentrating too much. Well, there will be other opportunities. Ah yes, please post more often! how is your new job? Are you still tired or feeling better now?
Thank you for everything >=(‘o ‘ )=< (I love these … now that I saw you guys using these cuuute things I've began using them too … so sweet). Have a nice day.
Petru

I’m surprised that I could have an opportunity to talk with you from ROMANIA!! It’s a shame but your country is not really familiar with Japanese people. So, I googled your country and found this page!

Then I found very unfamiliar food that I’ve never seen or heard about! What is mamaliga??
I could read the explanation on that page, but still can’t imagine how it tastes. Is it good? and how often do you eat them?

Wow!
Naoko-san you just found one of my favorite foods :)).
Actually it is not a food rather more like a cheap and traditional alternative for bread. People in poor rural areas used it as basic food for centuries, but it IS delicious. It is like a hard-boiled maize porridge. I’ll be happy to give you the recipe if you want, all you need is maize flour, salt and water. Works wonders with vegetables and fish – I especially LOVE it when it accompanies chips and cheese. d=(^u ^ )=b
Romania is a lovely country … well, at least *some* aspects are. I’ll be happy to tell you everything I know – though just like you I’ve met foreigners that know about Romania or visited it much more than I.
We have Japanese people around here. Not many, about four of them, mainly in academics – two of them are students in our town’s university, one of them (a wonderful young lady) teaches Japanese in the same university.
They are very sweet and fun to be around, I especially think it’s cute the way they talk Romanian with a distinctive accent – not all of them do though. Some of them I’ve met face-to-face since I’m a member of a Romanian-Japanese cultural NGO – that’s our homepage: http://www.himawari.ro/?lang=ja. There’s not much activity these days as the majority of members are students and the time for the exams is here. It’s my first year as a member and I think we’ll soon organize a Tanabata festival here. I can’t wait to be a part of it.
I would really love to talk to you more, please feel free to use my mail when you have the time.
I’ll definitely come here again be sure to make some fresh and interesting posts.
Best of luck Naoko-san
,,,(^u ^ )/””

>I’ll be happy to give you the recipe if you want, all you need is maize flour, salt and water.

Yes, please! I love corn things like corn bread in the US, tortilla in Mexiico, or just corn soup.
Our main diet is rice, you know ,so we don’t have so many dishes with maize flour. I can come by some in a big supermarket. So, would you mind write your recipe here? I defenetly try to make it!

We’re in the middle of tornado season, but it’s been the worst one in a long, long time. Several towns and cities have been destroyed. The storm system that destroyed Joplin blew over us without much trouble. I really hate this season!! I can’t stand it.

Of course! we were so worried about you. But it seemed you were safe from news in Japan and your blog.
But I’m so sorry. The natural disaster could destroy towns of one of the most developing countries like the US..it makes me helpless…and so horrible.

So, it’s still been in the season, please be carefull and make sure the way to survive, please!

Naoko-san and everybody, this is the recipe for ‘mamliga’ (as I make it at home).
I’m sorry I can’t give you a link, but I don’t blog (X_ X )
First of all some extra info about cooking ‘mamaliga’. I’ll give you no specific instructions as to quantities. Just relax and use your cooking experience. We prepare it in Romania in a special iron pot called ‘ceaun’ – http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QnKwWjWv5CI/R1KGWTcJeTI/AAAAAAAAABI/i9puogXK-mI/s1600-R/ceaun.png. The reason is that while cooking a thin layer of crust sticks onto the walls of the pot. If these walls are not thick enough it will burn and ruin both the pot and the food. Any thick pot (preferably made of iron) you have in your house will be good.
‘Mamaliga’ can be made either softer or harder, depending on taste or meal it accompanies. The thickness depends on how much corn flour you put in it. Know that it will harden during cooking as the flour absorbs more of the water and also water evaporates. I’m sure you will understand more after you make your first ‘mamaliga’. (O_ – )~*
The recipe: put water to boil in a pot. Add salt to suit your taste and a small quantity of corn flour. When the water starts to boil, lots of scum will form and the content of the pot will rise rapidly. Watch the pot or it will get messy. Turn the heat immediately to low and put the rest of the corn flour in the pot to get the thickness you desire. Take a wooden spoon or the surikog and begin mixing; the corn flour must be fully mixed with water, pockets of dry corn flour are not tasty.
Keep the heat low enough to gently boil ‘mamaliga’. From time to time stir it with the wooden spoon or surikog to make sure it cooks evenly and that no pockets of dry flour remain.
Cooking time depends on your time (at least 10 min of boiling). The textbook recipe says ‘mamaliga’ is done when it no longer sticks to the spoon. I usually boil it for half an hour and it still sticks to the spoon … still, not as much as it did before.
When you are happy with how much it boiled drop it on a plate and serve.
Bon apetit! (^u ^ )
‘Mamaliga’ can also be made with milk instead of water, though I didn’t make it that way yet. However it is delicious served with milk, when I was a kid I loved to eat ‘mamaliga’ with milk.
Naoko-san, I know Japanese people eat a lot of fish so if you want I can also give you another traditional Romanian recipe for cooking fish called ‘saramura’. My mother was born on the banks of Danube and every time we go there we all gather and eat lots of it. Oh yeah … that and fish sour soup. Makes me hungryyy (^v ^)
Waiting for a special post about ‘mamaliga’ d=(0_ – )~*
Have a wonderful day
Petru

Naoko-san,
Thank you for your kind remarks. I’m sure you can make it! It’s easy to make, delicious and indeed very healthy, especially for those that have a sensible stomach. (O_ – )~*
Ooops! … I forgot to copy the ‘i’ in ‘surikogi’ you mentioned in your previous post about your kitchen ustensils.
Actually, the traditional method of making ‘mamaliga’ utilizes a stick about 40-50 cm long called ‘facalet’ which is used to rub the ‘mamaliga’ to the walls of the ‘ceaun’ while boiling in order to eliminate all the dry flour pockets.
Also, here we use something very similar to the surikogi and suribachi – ‘piulita’ http://poftabuna.md/uploads/crop/245×168/mujdei-1.jpg. This is used to crush garlic cloves and make ‘mujdei’for ‘saramura’.. but that recipe I will leave for the next time.
So it got me wondering: what do you do with the sesame seed that you crush with the surikogi and suribachi? (0. 0?’>
Now on to your new post … let’s see … maybe we can post another comment there too. (0_ – )~*
Good luck with your cooking, I’ll be cheering for you but I’m sure you will do it perfectly! (*v * )=b
Petru